ACLU Comment on Trump Executive Order on Foster Care

WASHINGTON — President Trump today signed an executive order related to the child welfare system. The order authorizes funding for the Department of Health and Human Services and encourages state governments to develop partnerships with faith-based agencies.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on a related issue this fall in a case involving a Philadelphia foster care agency. The case was brought by Catholic Social Services, which objects to working with same-sex couples. The American Civil Liberties Union is counsel in the case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.

Leslie Cooper, deputy director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, had the following response:

“What hypocrisy! While the Trump administration talks about the need for more foster parents, it is making arguments at the Supreme Court and authorizing discrimination in federally funded foster care programs that could result in many prospective parents being turned away by agencies for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to care for a child. The best way to recruit additional parents to provide homes for the over 400,000 children in the child welfare system across the country is to ensure that foster care agencies put the best interests of the children in their care first and welcome every family that is willing and able to provide a loving home to a child.